Fireproof high efficiency inorganic building insulation from waste industrial slag

需要解决的研究问题：炼钢会产生大量的炉渣，由于其高可溶性钙含量，当它膨胀时，不容易用作集料。形成的炉渣含有相当数量的夹持气体，因此在凝固时具有相当开放的结构。钢渣是岩棉绝热材料的基础，岩棉绝热材料广泛应用于建筑中，因为它是一种优良的绝热材料，化学性质稳定，完全耐火。最近备受瞩目的建筑火灾使人们认识到某些聚合物芯金属产品需要替代的不燃绝缘材料。研究的主要目标和目的：该项目将寻求探索如何直接使用炼钢厂的熔渣并将其铸造成板产品。我们的目的是生产一种结构刚性的隔热板，可以作为独立材料或复合钢板使用。目的是全面了解传统综合工厂使用的BOS工艺和通过电弧路线回收的钢渣的各种化学性质。该工作将进一步考虑炉渣的高温特性，以及如何在凝固过程中增加泡沫特性，以最大限度地提高强度和减少重量。这可以在小型静态铸件上完成，然后设计一个模型连铸工艺来模拟带状铸造的生产，使30-50毫米的板产品能够从输入熔渣中连续生产出来，其过程与金属铸造的过程非常相似。这一想法有可能在所有钢铁厂以及生产无机渣类材料的其他领域（如玻璃）得到推广。由于该产品附加值高，而且是由通常会被填埋的东西制成的，因此从经济和环境的角度来看，它具有令人难以置信的重要性，因为它是由熔渣直接制成的（没有重熔），其碳足迹优越。我们还预计，这可能会改变建筑隔热，因为作为一种结构防火建筑元素，它比木材和聚合物基产品都有巨大的优势。EPSRC职权范围内的新工程：这是一个独特的先进材料项目，将化学科学，物理和材料工程相结合，提供一种新型的建筑绝缘材料，完全耐火和环境退化。

THE RESEARCH QUESTION TO BE ADDRESSED:Steelmaking produces large megaton quantities of slag, which due to its high soluble calcium content cannot easily be used as an aggregate material as it swells. The slag as-formed contains considerable quantities of entrapped gases and hence upon solidification has quite an open structure. Steel slags form the basis of rockwool insulation which is used widely in buildings as it is an excellent insulator, is stable chemically and totally fire resistant. Recent high-profile building fires have thrown the light on certain polymeric cored metal products and there is a need for alternate non-combustible insulation. KEY OBJECTIVES AND AIMS OF THE RESEARCH:This project will seek to explore how molten slag can be used direct from the steel plant and cast into a board product. Our intention is to produce a structurally rigid insulation board that could be used as a stand-alone material or in composite steel panels. The aim will be to gain a full understanding of the chemical properties of various steel slags from both the BOS process as used in a conventional integrated works and that from steel recycled through electric arc routes. The work will evolve to consider the high temperature properties of the slag and how to increase the foaming characteristic during solidification to maximise strength and minimise weight. This can be done on small static casts and then a model continuous casting process will be designed to emulate that produced for strip casting to enable a 30-50mm board product to be produced continuously from input molten slag in a very similar process to that used for metal casting.This has potential to be an idea deployed in all steel plants and indeed in other areas (such as glass) where inorganic slag like materials are produced. Since the product is high in value addition, and is being made from something that would normally be landfilled it has incredible importance economically and from an environmental perspective as it is made from direct feed of molten slag (with no remelting) its carbon footprint is superior. We would also project that this could transformative in building insulation since as a structural fireproof building element it has huge advantages over both timber and polymeric based products.THE NOVEL ENGINEERING THAT PLACES IT WITHIN EPSRC REMIT:This is a unique advanced materials project which will combine chemical sciences, physics and materials engineering to deliver a new class of construction insulation which is completely resistant to fire and environmental degradation.